Traces of interaction : a practice-led exploration of ‘makerspaces’ in South African art

Abstract

Recent formulations of the artist-artwork-audience relationship have considered artists as context providers, artistic objects as repositories for ideas and a means to preserve tacit knowledge. Further, audiences have been reconsidered as creating meaning situationally within exhibition spaces. Although, artists are often inclined to present an artist statement, which can be perceived as a singular and ‘correct’ way to interpret art exhibitions, and which may prohibit viewers from trusting their own sense-making capabilities and interpretative skills. An overreliance on exhibition texts could discourage the formation of alternative forms of knowledge through embodied interactions with the work. This practice-led study explores these considerations of an entangled artist-artwork-audience relationship through a participatory approach. The artworks were created with public engagement in mind, and an emphasis placed on inviting physical interventions within the exhibition space. These works were exhibited as invitations for public participation in a series of two exhibitions. Installations of this nature aim to create a space for making, collaboration and creative expression, referred to in this practice-led study as “makerspaces”. After each installation, the artist reflected on and responded to the participants’ interventions as their actions left material residues of embodied participation. The role of the artist within this entangled artist-artwork-audience relationship can accordingly raise questions regarding artistic authority, meaning-making and knowledge production. Processes of creation, destruction, assimilation and erasure were documented and reflected on, following a practice-led methodology. By encouraging the audience to investigate the materials, the traces of others and their actions this creative research aims to provoke critical insights into embodied, material engagement in exhibitions that invite audience interaction without prescriptive instruction.